BANGKOK — In 1988, more than 100 Vietnamese refugees were stranded in the Pacific Ocean for 37 days. By the time they were rescued by Filipino fishermen, almost half had died.
Their stories and others will be told at the first Global Migration Film Festival next month at an indie cinema in Bangkok hosted by the U.N. Migration Agency.
To give voice to immigrant experiences, includes 2008 documentary “Bolinao 52,” about how 52 of the 110 Vietnamese boat people survived their ordeal, along with five other films about the struggles of immigrants and refugees around the world. Four days after it opens Dec. 14 in Bangkok, the festival will conclude on International Migrants Day. The festival takes place simultaneously from Dec. 5 until Dec. 18 around the world.
Take a closer look at Argentina’s capital city via “La Salada” (2014), which focuses on three groups of immigrants living in a sprawling informal flea market in Buenos Aires, while “Guido Models” (2015) centers on a middle-aged Bolivian immigrant who runs a modeling agency and academy in the city’s biggest slum.
Filipino flicks include “Donor,” in which a woman desperately searching for a better life sells her kidney to an Arab patient.
Too much drama? Then the movie best suited may be 2005 comedy-drama “La Visa Loca,” which follows the life of a taxi driver in Manila who dreams of going to the United States.
The last film added to the list is 2016 documentary “The Invisible City: Kakuma” which centers around Kakuma refugee camp, built in the middle of the Turkana desert in Kenya.
The film festival hosted by the International Organization for Migration runs Dec. 14 to Dec. 18 at a new indie cinema, the Bangkok Screening Room.
Admission is free. Booked tickets must be claimed 15 minutes before each screening.
The Bangkok Screening Room is located on the second floor above a 7-Eleven on Soi Saladaeng 1, which is walkable from MRT Lumphini’s exit No. 2 or BTS Sala Daeng’s exit No. 4.
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